By Natela Cutter DLIFLC Public Affairs MONTEREY, Calif. – The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center held a Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 9th on the upper Presidio of Monterey with military personnel, veterans, faculty, staff and students in attendance. “We are gathered here today to honor our Veterans, and to remember their courage and sacrifices they have made to defend this great nation of ours,” said guest speaker, Jerry Edelen, mayor of Del Rey Oaks. Attending the event were mayors and city officials of the seven surrounding municipalities. Earlier in the day, veterans and guests were invited to a social hour with light refreshments in order to mingle with your service members who study at DLIFLC. “This location that you have chosen to honor this special day is a fitting one,” said Edelen, pointing to the three slabs of the Berlin Wall that have been mounted in the upper courtyard of the Presidio of Monterey and serve as a reminder of the Cold War. “During the Cold War, I served behind this wall in the Berlin Brigade during the years 1985-1988,” said Edelen, himself a retired lieutenant colonel, Ranger and graduate of the West Point Academy. “You future veterans … study hard to master strategic languages so that you provide critical, timely information to your chain of command so that the right decisions can be made, battles can be won, and lives may be saved,” DLIFLC provides resident instruction in 17 languages at the Presidio of Monterey, California, with the capacity to instruct another 65 languages in Washington, D.C. The Institute has graduated more than 220,000 linguists since 1941. In...

By Patrick Bray DLIFLC Public Affairs MONTEREY, Calif. – Every Tuesday at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, Col. Phil Deppert, commandant of the Institute, and Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Ramsey, the senior enlisted leader, meet-and-greet all the new personnel during the newcomers briefing. Most are fresh recruits straight out of basic training who are about to begin their language classes, while others are returning to serve as Military Language Instructors, or MLIs, within the language schools. During the briefing, Deppert has the new MLIs stand up, say their name and where they are coming from. One Soldier stood and said, “I’m Staff Sgt. Shekib. I’m coming from Fort Gordon.” Before moving on, Deppert said, almost without hesitation, “Wait. Stand up again. You’re a native speaker.” Deppert had guessed correctly. Staff Sgt. Mashal Shekib is from Kabul, Afghanistan, and a native speaker of Pashto and Dari. He just recently completed the MLI certification course in September 2017 and now shares his language and culture with his students, who look to him for inspiration as a subject matter expert. MLIs are qualified noncommissioned officers who teach students in their language and serve as an example to them. They bridge the gap between the military units and the civilian staff in all eight schools and languages taught at DLIFLC. Watching students study (and struggle) with Pashto reminds Shekib of his own experience, only the other way around, he said about his English studies in his home country. He believes it is more difficult to be an English speaker and learn Pashto rather than vice versa. “It’s a struggle to...

By Patrick Bray DLIFLC Public Affairs MONTEREY, Calif. – The Korean School at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey held the 15th Annual Korean Alphabet Day Video Contest Oct. 12 and presented awards to students who participated in the 26th Annual Korean Language Writing Contest for Foreign Nationals. The annual contests are in celebration of Hangul Day, translated as Alphabet Day, which also takes place in October. The writing contest was hosted and judged by Yonsei University in Seoul. The overall winner of the writing contest was U.S. Army Pvt. Brennan Couch, a first-semester student. Couch’s award was presented by the DLIFLC commandant, Col. Phil Deppert. “Winning a difficult contest like this is motivating for me,” said Couch, who is still early in the Korean program with no prior experience in foreign language acquisition. “I can measure my learning and have a tangible product for my efforts.” The writing contest theme centered on the seasonal change from summer to fall allowing students to showcase their Korean writing ability and cultural awareness in a fun way. Couch wrote a poem and read it aloud in Korean. “Autumn is a pale horse wandering around the globe, a beautiful warning of the coming winter and her icy touch.” The video contest winner came from Department D, Team 3, for their rendition of the Beatles’ song “Let it be” parodying life as a student at DLIFLC. The ninth of October every year in Korea is Hangul Day, and is a holiday commemorating the gift of a simplified alphabet from King Sejong the Great to his people...

By Chief Petty Officer Jamie Barron IWTC Monterey SAN FRANCISCO – Students assigned to Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) Monterey, California, visited San Francisco Fleet Week, Oct. 7. More than 60 students who are attending various linguist programs at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, met with the crew of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) and received a tour of the ship’s operations spaces. Along with the public spaces, IWTC Monterey students were also able to get a glimpse inside the Ships Signal Exploitation Space, where they could potentially be assigned. “It was a great experience getting to see what we do in the fleet,” said Seaman Paul Greathouse. “Most people don’t know what goes into our job, so it was nice to get answers to some of the questions I’ve had since I chose this rating.” Cmdr. Andy Newsome, commanding officer for IWTC Monterey, requested the visit in order to provide operational context for the language training Sailors receive at DLIFLC. “Many of our newest Sailors are excited to deploy and utilize their new skills, but are unsure where they fit in the world of information warfare,” said Newsome. “We feel strongly that by giving our Sailors a glimpse of what their shipmates are doing, we can help increase their motivation to excel in language learning.” This is the second time IWTC Monterey students have visited San Francisco Fleet Week activities. In 2016, students had the opportunity to attend Fleet Week and were also able to see a Navy EP-3E Aries II aircraft and meet with a crew from Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron...

By Brian Lepley Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs MONTEREY, Calif. – The eight other candidates for the Army’s 2017 AIT Platoon Sergeant of the Year can blame Leesa Brotherton. Staff Sgt. Bryan Ivery, the PSOY winner named at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Sept. 15, credits his hyper-competitiveness to his aunt Leesa. “We grew up together and she was 10 years older than me. We played all kinds of games and she showed me no mercy,” remembers Ivery. “I learned. Since I was young I have to bring my best to any competition I’m in.” “Iron sharpens iron” is Ivery’s motto, an ethos born from those losses to Brotherton as a child. His duty at Company B, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion, is preparing new arrivals for the academic rigor of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. “Motivation is definitely a driving factor in my day-to-day activities with these new Soldiers,” said Ivery, one of five platoon sergeants for the battalion’s Phase Four training. Co. B 1st Sgt. Clint Rowe and Ivery are products of DLIFLC, a joint service school where students can spend more than 18 months learning languages, dialects and cultures like Farsi, Arabic, Korean, Urdu and many others. “Staff Sgt. Ivery gets Soldiers right out of basic and brings them up to the level DLI and the Army needs them to be in order to succeed,” Rowe said. “His dedication and grit are paramount.” The Army AIT PSOY event, run by Training and Doctrine Command, was modeled on a hectic combat mission and tested that motivation, Ivery said. It was five days of strenuous tasks on a punishing schedule....

By Natela Cutter DLIFLC Public Affairs MONTEREY, Calif. – “I believe the Army recognized it for what it is, and as a result I was selected for promotion to sergeant first class,” said Staff Sgt. Garrick Bartlett, who is a MLI in the Multi-Language School and has been recognized three times as the military instructor of the quarter, while simultaneously pursuing his Master degree in higher education. MLIs are a vital part of the education construct at DLIFLC, where eight separate foreign language schools are managed by a mix of military and civilian instructors and leadership. MLIs not only teach the foreign language in the schools, but also manage student linguist careers and maintain open channels of communication between civilian management and military units. “Our goal was to validate the role of the MLIs as instructors Army-wide and align them directly with their leader peers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Sean Cherland, adding that it is vital that Army “leadership outside of DLI is aware of their qualifications as instructors.” “Historically, the role of MLIs is not well understood outside of DLI and was seldom acknowledged by TRADOC. They only received a local badge….and didn’t have anything that recognized them Army-wide,” Cherland said. In the making for more than two years, the key to success for the program was the enabling of the MLI’s to complete the Army Training and Doctrine Command course called the Foundation Instructor Facilitator Course, which is designed to train new instructors on how facilitate basic courses and learn instructional techniques. In the making for more than two years, the key to success for the program was the...